December 26

Today in History
• 1492 - 1st Spanish settlement La Navidad in the New World, founded by Christopher Columbus
• 1773 - Expulsion of tea ships from Philadelphia
• 1805 - Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts established, Philadelphia
• 1811 - A theater fire in Richmond, Virginia kills the Governor of Virginia George William Smith
• 1825 - Erie Canal opens
• 1848 - 1st gold seekers arrive in Panama en route to San Francisco
• 1860 - Maiden voyage of 1st steamship owned by 1 man (Cornelius Vanderbilt)
• 1862 - 1st US navy hospital ship enters service


Holidays - Traditional and Obscure
• Boxing Day
• Day of Goodwill
• Kwanzaa
• National Thank You Note Day
• National Whiners Day
• Slovenia Independence and Unity Day
• St. Stephen's Day (Ireland)
• Synaxis of the Mother of God

Birthdays
• 1194 - Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor (1220-50)
• 1618 - Elisabeth, Paltsgravin of Rhine/abbess
• 1660 - Peter Schenck, German/Netherlands engraver/publisher, baptised
• 1738 - Thomas Nelson, merchant, signer of Declaration of Independence
• 1792 - Charles Babbage, English inventor, calculating machine
• 1837 - Admiral George Dewey, American naval hero of Manila
• 1886 - Gyula Gombos von Jakfa, general/dictator of Hungary, 1932-35
• 1893 - Mao Zedong, Chinese revolutionary and Chairman of the Communist Party of China